How to Be a Good Wife (2020): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2020, How to Be a Good Wife is a comedy and drama film directed by Martin Provost, running about 108 minutes.

What it’s about. Paulette Van Der Beck and her husband have been running the housekeeping school of Bitche in Alsace for many years. Their mission is to train teenage girls to become the perfect housewives at a time when women were expected to be subservient to their husband. After the sudden death of her husband, Paulette discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities. But while preparations are underway for the best housekeeping competition TV show, she and her lively students start questioning their beliefs as the nation-wide protests of May 1968 transform society around them. Reunited with her first love, André, and with the help of her eccentric stepsister Gilberte and strict nun Marie-Therese, Paulette joins forces with the schoolgirls to overcome their suppressed status and become liberated women.

Who’s in it. How to Be a Good Wife stars Juliette Binoche as Paulette Van Der Beck, Yolande Moreau as Gilberte Van der Beck, Noémie Lvovsky as Marie-Therese and Édouard Baer as André Grunvald, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 5.8/10, How to Be a Good Wife has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch How to Be a Good Wife page.

If you liked it. Fans of How to Be a Good Wife tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.